Our goal is to be the best place on the internet to discuss even the most complicated or controversial topics in a civil, open-minded way free of personal attacks.

(Rules A through C apply to the entire forum. The off-topic sections are generally exempt from rules D-H.)

A. No ad hominem arguments, insults, flames, personal attacks, libel or slander. Please keep discussion focused on the issues of the specific topics, and not on the character of those discussing the issues. If your motive is to ridicule members, or spread bad feeling, please do not bother to post. Try to be as respectful and sincere as possible. Posts that have a rude or ridiculing tone or otherwise seem to have the intent of offending others as opposed to having productive exchange of ideas will be deleted. Even borderline posts will be deleted. Please see this clarification on how forum discussions are simultaneously uncensored and strictly moderated.

A.2. Speculating about whether another member who is allegedly saying something false is lying, trolling, stupid, or ignorant, etc. is an off-topic insult.

B. No slurs or pejoratives such as but not limited to racial slurs. Name-calling, mean-spirited mockery, and irrelevant personal attacks made against any person or group not on this forum is strictly prohibited.

D. All posts must be on topic. Posting irrelevant asides, snide comments, or generally trying to derail a discussion, is not in the spirit of the forum and is strictly prohibited. Polite, kind off-topic remarks within a post that aren't too distracting (e.g. "hi," "thanks," "I enjoy your writing") are tolerated but most of each and every post must be on topic and absolutely no rude off-topic or offensive off-topic remarks will be tolerated at all.

D.2. All posts need to contribute an on-topic point or on-topic question to the discussion. No single word posts, or meaningless posts. No posts that simply say "yes", "no", "bump", or "I agree".

D.4. Generally, it is off-topic to post an entire non-philosophical article, which includes almost all news reports, conspiracy theories or political editorials. If you want to use the information, opinions or arguments in a non-philosophical article as a base for philosophical points and philosophical questions, then generally it is more effective to summarize it or quote only the essential parts of it.

D.5. It is off-topic (and usually insulting) and thus prohibited to tell another member to go research or learn about something. This point is elaborated in the site policies regarding links.

D.6. It is off-topic (and usually insulting) and thus prohibited to critique another member's arguing style, intentions or overall contribution to the forums.

E. Posters must genuinely try to use proper spelling, basic grammar and punctuation. All posters must proofread their posts before posting them. If you are not very good at spelling and basic grammar, you must use a spellchecker. No instant-message-style short-hand, such as "u" instead of 'you' or "str8" instead of 'straight'. Elaboration and questions about spelling, grammar and formatting rules

F. Formatting: Use the quote bbcode function to quote other users. Make sure to use two line breaks between paragraphs so there is a full line of blank space between the paragraphs. Do not put all of your posts in bold, italic, colored or underline print; those features are for emphasizing certain text. Do not write in poetry/verse format. Do not write in all capital letters or overuse capital letters in place of the bold bbcode. Elaboration and questions about spelling, grammar and formatting rules

G. Do not reply to rule-breaking posts. Do not tell others they are violating the forum rules and especially do not quote rule-breaking posts. Simply use the report button (the exclamation point on the upper-right-hand side of the post you wish to report) to report the post and then ignore the reported post until a moderator closes the report or deletes the reported post.

G.2 It is expected that you read all the preceding posts in a topic before you post in that topic. And it is expected that you use the report button to report any posts that you think violate the forum rules. All posts that follow a single rule-breaking post may be deleted as a means of salvaging the topic. Posts that blatantly misrepresent someone else's position or thoughts may also be deleted especially where it seems intentional or particularly derailing.

H. Rules for Creating New Topics:

H.1. Use a descriptive and specific title so that other users know the topic.

H.2. Before posting a new topic, search the forum and see if that topic already exists.

H.3. All new topics must be at least 45 words and must be at least 3 sentences (not counting quotes or off-topic content).

H.4. When posting a new topic, you must pose some sort of philosophical argument or philosophical open-ended question. Do not post a topic which only asks for one-word answers. You can use an article, video, image, short poem or other quote as the basis for your own philosophical argument or question or as elaboration of one of your points, but you still must add your own philosophical question or argument in your own words. Please see this post elaborating on this rule against preaching, which does not merely apply to religious topics but applies to all topics. The topic must qualify independently as argument or as elaborated, well-specified philosophical questioning (meaning tacking a simple question onto a post that would otherwise be preaching is not sufficient).

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Other notes: As a new trial member, your posts will be held for moderation until you have at least 20 approved on-topic posts. You will also be unable to send PMs. All new topics for all members even those with more than 20 posts are held for moderation (except those by moderators and contributors).

Other terms: By using this site, you agree to follow these rules. Posts that violate these rules will be edited or deleted. Members who violate these rules will be warned or banned. Your own posts will generally not be deleted upon request. By posting you give us permanent, unconditional right to publish, edit or delete the content of your post for any reason at our discretion. If you do not fully understand any of the above rules or are warned about violating one of them, please use the corresponding links to see the elaborations and to ask questions or PM Scott. You may also review the older, more elaborate version of the forum rules which listed the rules in a different order using numbers.

Last edited by Scott on August 25th, 2011, 6:21 pm, edited 27 times in total.

How do you site a personal attack on your philosophical positions from vindictive, malicious minded forum members? You're saying you strictly moderate this forum, but I can't see any actual proof of this policy being applied, given the personal attack against me that I just read.

Misty, only the rules that apply to the on-topic posts apply to private messages. If someone sends you an offensive private message you must report it and then it will be forwarded to me. Private messages aren't moderated unless they are reported. Private messages are only private in the sense that they cannot be accessed by the public or by other members by going to a URL, unlike when you make a post on the forum which is openly viewable. They are not encrypted in the database or sent over https, not that even that would provide significant security to ensure privacy.

Rayliikanen wrote:How do you site a personal attack on your philosophical positions from vindictive, malicious minded forum members? You're saying you strictly moderate this forum, but I can't see any actual proof of this policy being applied, given the personal attack against me that I just read.

Please, reveal to us all the curse words I've used, and then try to defend yourself from being able to distinguish criticism from insults.